Water Droplet Macros

[Dagwood]

Originally Posted by Cathus

Not sure where to posts these - where do macros come in on the specialist forums?

Super shots and I'm quite envious! Going back to your question ,there used to be a Macro and Close-up section in DCMag. Perhaps it's time for the forum management to create a section under the Special Interest Section?
Dagwood

[Eyeayen]

So, Cathcus, this is about £220 ( plus postage I'm guessing ). Some cracking shots, however, are you completely happy with it ? Is this all you can do with it ? No offence because this sort of thing and the shots you have achieved fascinate me no end but then at the end of the day it doesn't do anything else and surely there comes a point where you've taken as many drop shots as you can ???

[Cathus]

Eyeayen

(it's Cathus, no C in the middle)

Actually you guessed wrong, it was more expensive & I had to pay an additional £99 import duty & VAT, the VAT was about £77 so you can easily work out the full cost.

Yes, I'm very happy with it.

Take a look at the manufacturer's website & you'll see some uses for the equipment. It is used in any situation where you might want to capture a specific moment in time & take out all the guess work.
Have a go at getting a similar shot & let me know how many attempts it takes you. With the equipment you can repeat it as many times as you want, you can also tailor it to capturing any moment down to a thousandth of a second.

So what else can you use it for?

you can use it to trigger the flash camera on sound or movement. It comes with a microphne, a motion detector & an infra red or laser sensor trigger so if anything crosses the beam it will fire.

The microphone is sensitive enough to pick up a pin hitting a table or touching a balloon, ever seen those photos of water filled balloons bursting in the Daily Telegraph last year? taken with this equipment, what about bullets (or air rifle slugs) going through various objects that only high speed flash will capture?

Ever see the shots of that guy's garden here he shot bats feeding off the surface of his pond? was on tv & national press last year.

Someone else uses it to capture insects feeding, they go through the beam & the equipment gets a shot, have you ever tried to take a photo of an insect in flight?
Others are using it to capture shots of birds feeding or in flight, leaving or landing on bird tables or feeders, wildlife in the garden or beyond.

It's a specific piece of equipment with a specific role but it's uses are limited by the imagination of the user. I've only had it a few weeks & only used it for water droplet shots, but seeing as I have already sold 3 shots, it may well pay for itself sooner than one of my lenses.

Saying all it can do is take water droplets is a bit like saying why did you bother to buy a macro, all it can do is take closeups.

[Eyeayen]

Okay, sorry for incorrect spelling of name.

And I wasn't intending to make out ALL it could do was take water droplet photo's but from the site I looked at there seemed to be a few pieces of equipment, perhaps I read it wrong but it seemed like each was a separate piece and therefore there was one for water droplets and another for sound and another movement lazer one.

As I said in my post this 'fascinates me' no end, I've never tried it and was just curious as to what it entailed and also if there were more uses ? Which there are so I would say it's worth spending the money out, I didn't realise it does as much as it does!

[Cutter]

Originally Posted by Cathus

Eyeayen

(it's Cathus, no C in the middle)

Actually you guessed wrong, it was more expensive & I had to pay an additional £99 import duty & VAT, the VAT was about £77 so you can easily work out the full cost.

Yes, I'm very happy with it.

Take a look at the manufacturer's website & you'll see some uses for the equipment. It is used in any situation where you might want to capture a specific moment in time & take out all the guess work.
Have a go at getting a similar shot & let me know how many attempts it takes you. With the equipment you can repeat it as many times as you want, you can also tailor it to capturing any moment down to a thousandth of a second.

So what else can you use it for?

you can use it to trigger the flash camera on sound or movement. It comes with a microphne, a motion detector & an infra red or laser sensor trigger so if anything crosses the beam it will fire.

The microphone is sensitive enough to pick up a pin hitting a table or touching a balloon, ever seen those photos of water filled balloons bursting in the Daily Telegraph last year? taken with this equipment, what about bullets (or air rifle slugs) going through various objects that only high speed flash will capture?

Ever see the shots of that guy's garden here he shot bats feeding off the surface of his pond? was on tv & national press last year.

Someone else uses it to capture insects feeding, they go through the beam & the equipment gets a shot, have you ever tried to take a photo of an insect in flight?
Others are using it to capture shots of birds feeding or in flight, leaving or landing on bird tables or feeders, wildlife in the garden or beyond.

It's a specific piece of equipment with a specific role but it's uses are limited by the imagination of the user. I've only had it a few weeks & only used it for water droplet shots, but seeing as I have already sold 3 shots, it may well pay for itself sooner than one of my lenses.

Saying all it can do is take water droplets is a bit like saying why did you bother to buy a macro, all it can do is take closeups.

Hi Garry just a personal question and I hope you dont mind. I would love to capture all those subjects you mention in flight, but would it be the same knowing you had not pressed the button? I wonder!! i know you have to set the shot up, but then its just automated.

[Cathus]

Eyeayen,

yep, it is a modular system. You can just get the timer & add bits to it as you want, I got the water drop module, microphone, movement sesnor & a IR trip thing, there is also a laser trip. I'm sure you can do similar things without all the equipment but it will take lots of trial & error.

Mark,
I wondered if that question might arise, happy to give my viewpoint.
For those shots I choose the composition, I choose the focusing, I choose the aperture & the shutter speed, I choose the lighting, how muich to use, where to place them, what power to put them on. I use either mathematics or trial & error to choose the moment the shutter fires, this is crucial as a few milliseconds later or earlier, I'll get a different type of result.
I then choose how to process the shot & how to present it.
(Actually, I do press the shutter because I do it on bulb mode)

Whether, in terms of ethical photography you consider use of such equipment to be somehow cheating the art I guess is a personal preference.
I view it as another tool in my photographic toolbox, no different to my choice of camera or lens. I got a macro lens to help me take closeups, is it cheating if I use a cable release or put it on timer to minmise camera shake? Do I make my job easier by strapping on a 600mm rather than walking closer?

No, I have no problem with this gear.

[Cutter]

I get where your coming from Garry and i do agree, its a little like digital photography are we cheating!! some purist would say yes, do children cheat when they use calculaters to add up.
Its all about moveing on and embracing technology.

[nikonian]

Originally Posted by Cathus

Thanks guys,

Sie,
between 1/9000 & 1/27,000 of a sec, which is the duration of the flash depending on what setting it is on. Basically, I have a timer system which drops a constant sized droplet of water through a beam, the beam triggers the flash. The camera shutter is open (until I familiarise myself with setting it up to be triggered by the timer also) & captures what is frozen by the flash.

Karen,
the water falls 2 feet into a cooking dish of water, maybe 2/3 inch deep

Eyeayen,
yep seen those too, stay tuned!

Remember the tripping of the shutter is partly mechanical which takes time. It is better to stick to the flash only operation and use the delay function between the sensor and the triggering of the SCR to capture the droplet in different places.

[Cathus]

nikonian,

not sure I understand what you're saying (SCR?)

[OldBoy]

Originally Posted by Cutter

Hi Garry just a personal question and I hope you dont mind. I would love to capture all those subjects you mention in flight, but would it be the same knowing you had not pressed the button? I wonder!! i know you have to set the shot up, but then its just automated.

I regard it as cheating, if you set the equipment up, go to the pub for a few hours, then return to collect the shots. It's not cheating if you stand there taking the shots, as the equipment is used because your reactions aren't quick enough to take the shot.